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Tony Cliff

Trotsky: Fighting the
rising Stalinist bureaucracy
1923-1927

(1991)

Tony Cliff, Trotsky: 3. Fighting the rising Stalinist bureaucracy 1923-1927, Bookmarks, London 1991.
Transcribed by Martin Fahlgren (July 2009).
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.

Preface


1. The New Course Controversy

Unrest among industrial workers

Trotsky’s reaction to workers’ unrest

The Troika reacts

Trotsky’s elaboration on the New Course

Weaknesses in Trotsky’s New Course


2. The campaign against Trotsky

The Troika’s reaction to Trotsky’s New Course

the Thirteenth Party Conference

The death of Lenin

The Lenin Levy

The Thirteenth Party Congress


3. German revolution of 1923

The German Revolution and stirrings in Russia

A short sketch of the German Revolution

The policy of the KPD

The collapse of the German Revolution


4. The Lessons of October

Trotsky uses history to castigate Zinoviev and Kamenev

An avalanche of abuse falls on Trotsky’s head

1923 Opposition shattered

Trotsky’s reaction to the assault

‘Socialism in one country’

A Pause


5. Trotsky on culture

On art and literature

Art and revolution

Attitude to artistic groups

Party attitude to art

Science and society

Results and prospects


6. Split in the Troika

Rise of the Kulaks puts pressure on Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin

Zinoviev and Kamenev turn on Bukharin and Stalin

Break-up of the Troika

Collapse of Zinoviev’s stronghold, Leningrad

Trotsky maintains silence

The United Opposition is created


7. The United Opposition

The United Opposition is launched

The United Opposition retreats and capitulates

The Fifteenth Party Conference

Again lying low


8. The General Strike in Britain

The Anglo-Russian Committee

Where is Britain Going?

The 1926 General Strike

Trotsky’s reaction to the General Strike

The Communist leaders and the collapse of the General Strike

The ARC lingers on to the death


9. The Chinese Revolution

First intervention of Moscow in China

The beginnings of the Chinese Revolution

Stalin’s and Bukharin’s views on the KMT

Trotsky criticises Stalin’s and Bukharin’s schematism

The Coup of March 1926

Stalin’s and Bukharin’s reaction to the March Twentieth Coup

The massacre of the workers of Shanghai

Bedfellows of Wang Ching-wei

The Canton Putsch

The development of Trotsky’s stand on the Chinese Revolution


10. The penultimate episode of the United Opposition

Stalin uses war scare against the Opposition

Defendant Trotsky turns prosecutor

Stalin presses on with the assault on the Opposition

Stalin’s assault on Trotsky

The platform of the United Opposition

The Preobrazhensky whip


11. The United Opposition is smashed

The Wrangel amalgam

Opposition leaders’ direct appeal to workers

Ioffe’s suicide

How strong was the Opposition?

The Fifteenth Congress and the break-up of the United Opposition

Trotsky banished to Alma-Ata

In conclusion

Acknowledgements

Several people have helped in the writing of this book. Many thanks are due to Chris Bambery, Alex Callinicos, Donny Gluckstein and Chris Harman and John Rees for their advice and suggestions. I owe a debt to Ahmed Shawki for help in locating material. Chanie Rosenberg deserves special thanks for writing Chapter Five, Trotsky on Culture, for participating in the editing of the manuscript and for typing it. Thanks are due to John Molyneux for expert critical comment and most valuable stylistic suggestions, and Duncan Blackie for editing.

Tony Cliff, 25 April 1991

Tony Cliff was a member of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain, and wrote many previous books. The first two volumes of this biography, Trotsky: Towards October 1879-1917 and Trotsky: The sword of the revolution 1917-1923, were published by Bookmarks in July 1989 and July 1990 respectively. His other books include the classic State Capitalism in Russia (1974) and two previous political biographies: Rosa Luxemburg (1959) and Lenin (in three volumes 1975-79).

 
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Last updated on 31 July 2009